Looking for faith is where you will find it.

Depression

April 05, 2010

Whew! It’s over! Holy Week does not always seem so holy for
we preacher types. There are so many additional services, Maundy Thursday, Good
Friday, Easter Sunrise, and then the regular Easter service where those folks
you vaguely remember show up along with a passel of visitors. You’d think it
would lead this poor parson into a sense of euphoria, of satisfaction in
getting through it.

Well, it does. But, truth be told, the euphoria lasts only a
day, maybe two. And then reality sets in. The reality is this: The Sunday after
Easter and the Sunday after Christmas are the least attended days in the
Christian religion. The up of Easter’s attendance will soon be met by the poor attendance next Sunday. Frankly, it’s
depressing. Next Sunday I’ll be preaching to more wooden pew backs than people.

But, hey, I’ve been depressed before.

My first really personal encounter with depression was the
result of being in love with Carole Memory. We were in high school. We loved
each other. We planned all our activities so we maximized the time we had
together. We were young so we had lots of time to spend together, to stare into
each other’s eyes, and , well, okay I’ll confess it, to swap some spit. My life
revolved around Carole. She was truly my all-in-all. Carole’s family moved to
Florida and since she was only fifteen they required she move with them. That
was depressing. That was horribly depressing.

There was that time my Daddy put me on restriction and
denied me the car for a month. I was innocent. I was totally innocent. But the
one man jury that ruled my life declared this innocent one guilty. Guilty of an
offense I did not commit. My Daddy convicted me of drinking with my buddies in
the car, and maybe, he suggested, driving while doing so. I have to admit the
evidence against me was overwhelming. The stink of it was overwhelming. The car
did smell like someone had heaved. The sickening odor was really horrible. It
was so bad Daddy couldn’t drive it. That didn’t help my case. It smelled like
someone had regurgitated all over that car. But I was innocent I was as
innocent at the new fallen snow. It was depressing. It was horribly depressing.

Those were depressing times. But there were more to come. I
became a father, a father of three. Prior to becoming a father I was an expert
on child rearing. With the birth of the first I began to have doubts. With the
birth of the second I began to question myself. Then, with the third, I realized
how seriously limited I am. It’s
depressing.

All this is to say I am well acquainted with the depressing
aspects of life. If it doesn’t convince you consider this: My kids now feel free
to tell me anytime they want, “Dad, you can’t do that.” Or consider the fact
that the smell in my Dad’s car was finally discovered to be the pulp from the
fresh lemonade he spilled and which flowed under the driver’s seat to rot. Or
even more depressing is this: Remember Carole Memory. After she moved to
Florida she told me she wanted to explore her options. I learned later her
option was named Ralph. Now that was
really depressing!

Maybe, in the scheme of things the low attendance this
Sunday will not be all that depressing.

February 27, 2009

Krista Tippett is a powerful voice in the world of the spiritual today. Her NPR / American Media program Speaking of Faith, provides a view into all the dimensions of matters spiritual. The current program on Speaking of Faith is essential listening for any pastor in today’s world.

One in ten Americans today will suffer clinical depression in some form during their lives. Sadly one in four women will experience this depression. It is obvious therefore that pastors will encounter congregants experiencing and suffering from this affliction, if they, themselves, are not immune to it.

Ms. Tippett’s current program “The Soul of Depression” will be a valuable tool in these encounters. She engages in conversation Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression which won the National Book Award in 2001, Parker Palmer, an educator, activist, and author of Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation (and who coincidentially is one of the guests on Bill Moyers’ Journal at PBS dot Org this week) and Anita Barrows, poet and psychologist who was the translator of Rike’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God.

The program is available in audio and a transcript will be available in a few days. I strongly recommend the fifty-three minutes it takes to hear this informative and empowering program.

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